Tuesday, August 30, 2016

By Hunter Shea

Publisher: Pinnacle

Pub. Date: August 30, 2016

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

As far as legendary critters go, The Jersey Devil may not be on the
level of Bigfoot or Nessie but it certainly has a cult following all its
own. A flying creature with hoofs and bat wings with a satanic
appearance has been said to be spotted in New Jersey's Pine Barrens.
With a legend going back to the 18th century and a slew of sightings
from the turn of the 20th century, it is certainly grist for the horror
writer's pen. There have been a few novels to tackle The Devil but none
are so imaginative and gruesome as The Jersey Devil by Hunter Shea.

Hunter Shea certainly loves his cryptozoology. The last book I read by him, The Montauk Monster, took on a similar East Coast event featuring a strange creature but the novel seemed a little too formula for me. Not so with The Jersey Devil.
It starts off running and keeps its fast pace throughout its 300 plus
pages. It is best described as being in a "Monster slasher" mode. There
are several narratives flashing by in the book and most of the
narratives end up with a body count. In fact, the endlessly switching
narratives are one of the things that didn't work for me. It left parts
of the tale feeling slightly fragmented. Fortunately the main narrative
works the best and involves 80 year old Boompa Willets and his Pine
Barren family who have a strange and dangerous connection with the
Jersey Devil. They, along with a popular author of Cryptozoology books
named Norm Cranston, seeks out the Devil in the midst of several
sightings and disappearances. It becomes clear that the Willets are not
so much attempting to reveal the truth of the monster as much as attempt
to stop it and his connection to their family once and for all.

The Jersey Devil, like The Montauk Monster,
is best described as an old-school horror novel of the monster variety.
There is a mysterious legend, a monster to go with it, and lots of
gruesome killings and disappearances. In this case, tons of killing. The
amount of violence and gore is quite high here and Shea is not above
throwing in his own share of very disturbing scenes. What really hooked
me in this story is that the author places his own creative spin on what
the creature is all about. He blends in much of the traditional legend
regarding the origin of the Jersey Devil but then adds a twist that
rewards the already exhausted reader halfway through. It is a spin that
works because of the portrayal of the Willet family which is full of
mystery and obsession. Also adding to the appeal of this tale is Shea's
eerie descriptions of The Pines Barrens. The Barrens takes on its own
personality and, although I never thought of anything in New Jersey as
wilderness, thanks to Mr. Shea, I do not want to get lost in the Pines
Barrens in the near future.

The bottom line is that The Jersey Devil
is a monster novel. But it one of the best to cme around in a while. It
has old fashioned scares coupled with a 21th century taste of the weird
and gruesome. It should be loved by most horror fans.

Friday, August 19, 2016

The ADHD Vampire

By Matthew Vaughn

Publisher: Journalstone

Pub. Date: February 16, 2015

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Horace Dracul is the half-brother of Dracula. His more legendary sibling
didn't think much of him and now it is Horace's time to conquer and
devour the humans. His coffin is discovered and opened on the deck of a
cruise ship catering to the sexual whims of the geriatric crowd. Horace,
despite his short attention span and difficulty staying on task, plans
to have a splendid meal of the senior citizens and might even turn a few
into his brides. However Martha, a retired cyborg spy, is about to make
his dream of conquest a very difficult one.

OK. First impression of The ADHD Vampire.
This is silly. Second impression. This is fun! Third impression. Does
this cruise ship actually exist sans vampire? Where does a senior
citizen sign up? Fourth impression. This is really silly. Fifth and final impression. I'm gonna read it again!

Matthew
Vaughn specializes in silly. He does it well and is not afraid to push
the envelope. Sometimes he just doesn't push the envelope but drags it
screaming into the pool and holds its head under the water, laughing at
the bubbles. Actually, he does that a lot. This funny novel is full of
kink and gore yet it is the type of comic violence that works as an
escape for the reader. It's hard to take a senior citizen cyborg spy vs.
attention-deficit vampire too seriously. This is fantasy, folks! For
its 88 pages, the novella stays at full speed ahead until all the damage
and violence is done and the reader gets a few laughs and groans for
his money.

The ADHD Vampire works best as a romp. It is
an easy night's read for most readers. It is funny in a gross sort of
way and is clearly not for the easily offended and squeamish. Yet I like
the author's just-throw it-out-there style which I suspect is as fun to
write as to read.While it is not as over-the-top as his Mother F'ing Black Skull of Death,
it is still pretty wild. What both books has in common beside the
extreme sex and violence is that there is no attempt at a social
message. It is just meant to be an entertaining ride. I think I liked The ADHD Vampire
a little more, ironically because it is slightly less extreme than his
other novel. But be aware. That "slightly less extreme" is a judgement
call.

So here's the bottom line. Don't like gore and violence or
you don't have a twisted sense of humor? Stay away. But if you do, read
it. And if you don't have a twisted sense of humor, why are you reading a
review of something called The ADHD Vampire in the first place?

Tuesday, August 16, 2016

By Max Booth III

Publisher: Journalstone

Pub Date: July 20, 2015

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

I get real nervous when reading about authors kidnapping book
reviewers. This is not the first novel on this topic but, for reasons
that will be disclosed, it is the best novel about kidnapping book
reviewers. But I do know some book reviewers that should be kidnapped.
If one is a reviewer, they should always write about the book and, even
if the book sucks, they should not take the negative hyperbole to a
personal level. Even if the author is a truly creepy creature who writes
about disembodied heads from his own experiences, it should not be an
issue in the review. Now mind you, I am not saying Max Booth III is a
truly creepy creature who writes about disembodied heads from his own
experiences. That would be a falsehood. I never actually met him and our
few exchanges on Facebook have been quite pleasant. In fact, I think it
was me who brought up the topic of disembodied heads...

I think I better stop there.

Fortunately, I do not have to worry about dissing the author in this review. How to Successfully Kidnap Strangers
does not suck. In fact, it is pretty damn good. The premise starts with
the sudden and as yet unexplained kidnapping of Harlan Anderson, a
somewhat antisocial and vicious reviewer of books he hate. Currently his
insults tend to be directed to the writers of a tiny independent book
publisher, BILF Publishing. Think of MILF and you'll get the full name.
Harlan's kidnapper, Billy, is one of the writers, a tweeted out loser
who seems to be tolerated only because he is the brother of one of the
close-knitted denizens of BILF. Billy also manages to kidnap one of the
witnesses of his assault on Harlan and pretty soon the crimes are piling
up like methed-out dominoes.

How to Successfully Kidnap Strangers
is a Keystone Kops version of a satire about the writers and readers in
the independent publishing business. The characters are all weird,
outcasted, maybe a bit repulsive, and instantly likeable. That even
includes the serial killer. The action never stops but within it all we
get a hilarious glimpse of the people who populate both the Bizarro
publisher genre and its target population of readers. The conclusion
appears to be that we are all sickos, but in a good way. if I had a
issue with the book, it is that the author appears to be writing to a
small audience who will get many of the in-jokes and understand the
attractiveness of reading that which no one else in their right mind
would read. But there is also a sense of slapstick humor in it that
would appeal to those who like books with twisted humor or even movies
like Scorcese's After Hours and the more mainstream The Hangover.

Max
Booth III is writing about an environment he know, even if it doesn't
usually involve disembodied heads. He is able to write about these
characters that occupy a reality flirting with the underground and
cultish, yet infuse them with enough real life and honest pathos that
the uninitiated can even get it. There really are some other novels that
have taken on the strange relationship between readers, reviewers and
writers. Yet this one, while being one of the more outrageous, is the
only one that seems to get all three . Humor is funny that way. it may
be easy to make fun of something but it only really works if you love
what you make fun of.

Wednesday, August 10, 2016

By Paul Jenkins

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Pub Date: August 30, 2016

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

In Curioddity by Paul Jenkins, we have a emotionally oppressed
gentleman by the name of Wil Morgan who lives in a life-long struggle
between the imaginative and the mundane. His mother, who died when he
was young, encouraged a fantastical approach to life. "Your eyes only
sees what your mind lets you believe," she tells him. His father, on the
other hand, steered him toward the safe and the dull, so much so that
when Wil becomes a private investigator of insurance fraud he is afraid
to tell his father who wants him to follow the even duller and safer
career of accounting. One day an eccentric owner of an unusual museum
comes to him and asks him to find a box of levity, which is the opposite
of a box of gravity. From this point on, Wil becomes entrenched in an
adventure going beyond just finding a box and is entrusted with the task
of saving the Curioddity Museum.

It is a cute tale and there is
lots of stuff is going for it. Wil is an adult that misses the childhood
feeling of wonder that his mother instilled in him. It takes a major
push for him to reclaim it and that push is aided by Mr. Dinsdale who is
the owner of the museum, and a woman who is so endearing and cute that I
wanted to ask Wil for her phone number. There is a satisfactory amount
of befuddlement in Wil's reactions to the weird going-ons and even a
nasty capitalist villain to move along the plot.

Yet, as
enjoyable as it was, I couldn't get over the feeling I've read this all
before. The clever and humorous writing is often in a style too close to
that of Douglas Adams and the characters seemed like copies from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
right down to the neurotic piece of technology. Much of the humor is
charming but not all that unpredictable. At the same time, It didn't
really launch itself into the farcical surreal as I wanted it to. In a
manner of speaking, I wanted to do more than just leave Kansas. I wanted
to see Oz. The Museum opened the door but I, Wil, and Lucy never really
passed through it.

The thing that works best in Curioddity
is Wil's conflict between being "odd" himself or being a conformist.
That struggle parallels the conflict between the love for his father and
mother to which he cannot reconcile. Wil's father makes an appearance
in the second half of the book and it is those conversations between Wil
and his father that puts flesh on the bones of the story . Yet the
fantastical elements do not meld well enough with the part that moved me
to win me over

Curioddity is certainly clever and there
are lots of funny one-liners and situations. But with all the satirical
fantasy and science fiction that is out there begging to be read, i
just didn't give this book too much of a thought afterwards. It seems
fairly obvious that the author left plenty of room for sequels. I can
think of many series that didn't win me over until the second or third
book. This could easily be one of them. But that is in the possible
future and for now I have to say I liked it but with reservations. But
if you are into satirical fantasy, it just might be worth a shot.

Friday, August 5, 2016

By Andrew Gross

Publisher: Minotaur Books

Pub Date: August 23, 2016

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

In the popular world of mainstream thrillers, Andrew Gross has become
one of my favorite authors. Originally a co-author for some of James
Patterson's assembly line turnouts, he has succeeded quite well on his
own and, for my money, surpasses the talent of his ex-collaborator with a
series of financial-based thrillers starring detective Ty Hauck and
several stand alone novels. My favorite is the tense and exciting 15 Seconds...until now.

Yet as much as I knew what the author could do, The One Man
came out of left field. While ostensibly a thriller, Gross bases his
new novel in the wider spectrum of World War II. It becomes a taut and
emotional historical suspense tale that works on many levels. It is a
suspense book, a historical novel, and a dramatic story of lost and
found relationships. In the One Man, Nathan Blum is able to
flee Poland before Hitler invades it. But he is filled with remorse
since he entire family had to be left behind and are killed by the
Nazis. He is picked for a secret mission that could well be suicide. He
is to return to Poland, go undercover into the Auschwitz concentration
camp, and rescue a scientist that may have the knowledge to place the
Allies in a distinct advantage. He finds getting in is difficult but
finding one man who is a needle in a haystack of thousands and getting
him out before he and his mission dies may well be impossible.

The
German concentration camps are never a pleasant topic. The author must
thread a fine line between showing the atrocities and terrors of the
camps yet not making so horrific and depressing that we lose the
excitement of the story. Gross does this quite well. We follow Blum and
the scientist Mendl through their days in the camp and witness the
one-foot-in-the-grave dilemmas of the prisoners. It is harrowing and
maybe a little too much for some readers who may like their thrillers a
bit more escapist. Yet it rings true to history and never loses the fact
that this is a suspense novel about the odds of survival and the the
possibilities of second chances. The author even throws a few cameos
into the mix with the appearance of historical figures like Franklin
Delano Roosevelt and Wild Bill Donovan. Back at Auschwitz, there are a
few particular incidents that happen to Blum, Mendl and a young but
brilliant teenager that I will not spoil for you. But suffice to say the
overlying theme here is the strengths of relationships in the most
unlikely places. With all the thrills of adventure in form of an escape
and the descriptive horrors of the camp., it is these relationships that
make this novel far more that the historical thriller it is.

Even
though Andrew Gross has a significant "cult" following among the
thriller fans, this could easily be the book that propels him into the
popular best-seller list if he hasn't made it already. it should. But
more importantly, it is also quality writing with deeply emotional
feelings. I love to see an author go beyond what I think he can do and
this is indeed one of those novels.

Monday, August 1, 2016

By John Connolly

Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton

Pub. date: April 7, 2016

Rating: 4 & 1/2 out of 5 stars

One of my rules for reviewing is, "Never review the later book of a
series I have not read.". It is also one of my most broken rules. Take
the Charlie Parker detective/thriller series by John Connolly. I have
been wanting to read them for a while. Asides from the main character
being named after my favorite jazz musician, it seemed like a
fascinating and complex thriller with a touch of the supernatural.
Exactly the type of detective series I tend to love. Yet it was not
until recently I decided to read one when i was offer the most recent A Time of Torment
for review. Will the fact that this is number 14 of the series affect
the power of the novel or my ability to catch the nuances inevitable in a
quality series?

The answer is yes in a minor way and no in a
major way. Charlie Parker is indeed a complex character with baggage
that would sink the Titanic. He manages to die a couple times, have a
deceased daughter who hover protectively around him, and carry an
intense purpose that goes way beyond, "I want to catch the bad guy.".
Connolly attempts to bring the tardy reader up to task during the start
of the plot and for the most part, he succeeds. But I still felt I was
missing some subtlety in a not so subtle protagonist. But once the story
started, it wasn't really that big an issue. the skilled writing and
tight plot carries the book.

In A Time of Torment, A man
straight out of prison comes to Parker to tell his story. He was once
perceived in public as a hero but soon was arrested and jailed as a
child molester. He maintains he was framed as a punishment for killing
two criminals in a hostage situation. His only real clue to who singled
him out for punishment is a phrase uttered by one of his attackers while
violating him in the inevitable jailhouse manner ; "This is for the
dead king!". To make matters worse, once he tells his story to Parker,
he disappears. Parker finds each of his leads are being killed or
disappearing which only makes him more determined to find out what is
really happening.

This starts an investigation by Parker and his
two way-beyond-scary henchman Angel and Louis. Parker's tactics seem to
have both his supporters and detractors in the law enforcement
profession which helps Parker get away with a lot of things that Sam
Spade and Nick Charles would never think of trying. His investigation
leads to a group in West Virginia that is well insulated from the local
law and have a century old reputation of actions that guarantee no law
enforcement officer will try to bother them.

Parker is a bit of
an enigma to me. He is foreboding and appears over-the-top
goal-oriented. This is probably the part I am missing due to starting
with book 14. But his dark charisma and determination does come through
and I am all for him right down to the last body count. But much of this
also has to do with how well the author incorporate other characters
into a whole tapestry of unfortunates and borderlines . Connolly makes
each character, major or minor, essential and a clue to the puzzle.

But
the biggest "character" for me was The Cut. The Cut is an area not a
person. It is an isolated part of West Virginia ,hopefully fictional,
that the author endows with a unique sense of evil and dread. It takes
on its own personality and is much as a part of the story as any person
in the book. As Parker is led to The Cut,we learn more about all
involved and by the time we get there, there is a dense and delicious
amount of tension that has built up.

I may have not have gotten a
total grasp of who Charlie Parker is than if i would have if I read the
earlier books in the series. But what stands out is that John Connolly
isn't dependent on one character being the sole reason for the story's
existence. He wrote a story that, while not necessarily standing alone,
is deep and colorful enough to be read out of sequence. There are many
supernatural elements but the plot actually would stand well without
them. But they do add unique elements to the story.

After reading
this, would I go back and read all other 13 books? You're damn right I
would. This was one hefty but involving read and well worth it for any
thriller fan that likes a supernatural element to their detective yarns.

About Me

My name is Marvin P. Vernon and I am a retired social worker who specialized in family therapy and domestic violence prevention. In the past, I have been a contributor to the Fact on File Student Thesaurus and currently pass my time as an avid reader and reviewer. I also work as a volunteer librarian at the Sun City Palm Desert Library. You can also find my reviews on Goodreads You can contact me at mpvernon5149@yahoo.com